Submit Friendly, The Texas Way!

During my brief stint in Texas, I noticed there is a rather laid-back attitude toward drinking. It's nothing (hell, it's almost EXPECTED) to have a beer at lunch, even a business lunch. Contrast that with here in Missouri, where if you are drinking before noon the neighbors give you the evil eye.

So it surprised me that people in Dallas were arrested for public drunkenness while in a bar. No, the owner of the bar did not report them. The police just showed up and did it on their own.

Their rationale? The drunk people MIGHT drive home. Except that one of the bars was in a hotel and some of the people arrested were registered at that hotel. And some of those arrested at other bars may have had designated drivers.

The action itself is bad enough. Their reasoning is worse. But worse of all is the authority they used to do it (emphasis mine, not the article's):

Texas law states that inebriated individuals could be subjected to arrest
anywhere for public intoxication.

Question: If everywhere is public, then where is private? Answer: nowhere.

Big Brother loves you.